Boris Johnson attacks Putin publicly, but keeps his cash protected

Brexit-related food shortages, Covid crony contracts, furlough fraud, VIP lanes for UK Government contracts – the list goes on and on. Now with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, here we go again.

Admittedly the Prime Minister’s double dealing isn’t quite as obvious as usual. Indeed, many Yessers grudgingly back Johnson’s attacks on Putin’s aggression (even if they’re also smarting at his keenness to protect the autonomy of one relatively new country whilst denying the aspirations of another). But with Russian boots and tanks on the ground of Ukraine, there is no equivalence. The situation there is urgent and lethal.

Still, it feels weird to back a proven liar who felt no qualms about using the pandemic to make cash for pals.

Worry not, folks. Your antennae are not wrong. The PM is at it again.

READ MORE: What are the UK Conservative Party's links to Russian money and who are the donors?

First, there’s widespread criticism that his much-trumpeted sanctions won’t hurt the Russian president at all. Putin does stash money in Britain, but mostly through trusted oligarch chums who took advantage of the UK’s Golden Visa scheme 10 years ago to buy British citizenship and quickly sink beneath the radar. According to the money laundering expert and Moneyland author Oliver Bullough, that scheme let the super-rich skip the queue for residency if they invested £2 million in UK Government bonds. So, corrupt officials from many countries bought visas, bought Mayfair mansions and simply moved here. Once they got residency, the right to remain indefinitely followed after five years and another year later, automatic citizenship.

So, the dodgiest crooks paid their way into Britain seven years ago and are now respectable British citizens making perfectly legal donations to the Conservative Party.

And that’s why Johnson’s decision to abolish Golden Visas last week means absolutely nothing.

Likewise, his new sanctions. They look quite impressive on paper, but aren’t going to be enforced. The National Crime Agency and Serious Fraud Office are massively under-resourced and can’t risk taking on oligarchs whose top London lawyers use every technicality to get clients off the hook. Ditto unexplained wealth orders (UWOs), introduced by the Tories in 2018 – which allow crime agencies to tackle people with assets of more than £50,000 but without legitimate sources of income. Only five cases have been brought to date – one ended in disaster and none’s been launched against Russians. Meanwhile, according to the UK’s National Risk Assessment, the level of money laundering in the City of London has almost doubled.

What’s the problem? UWOs let British crime agencies confiscate property acquired with “unlawfully obtained assets” – but only if the cash is deemed ill-gotten in their own home countries. That leaves plenty of room for argument and agencies can’t afford to take on the oligarchs’ top lawyers and lose. That’s why Britain is involved in a sterile competition with the EU about who has slapped more half-hearted sanctions on the greatest number of top Russian officials.

The real action needed won’t be taken. Conservative peer Lord Agnew (above) surprised everyone when he quit in January claiming that Government plans for an Economic Crime Bill have been pulled. The bill would have forced offshore owned property in the UK (held by oligarchs and hidden behind shell companies in tax havens) to reveal their true owners, giving them nowhere to hide cash. It would also have imposed some control over Companies House, which currently operates like a corporate Wild West.

As Oliver Bullough told Radio 5 Live, “it takes you 15 minutes and £12 to set up a British company from anywhere in the world with no checks on the information you’ve submitted. Russian mobsters have moved hundreds of billions under the cover of British shell companies – their money-laundering vehicles of choice”.

The Economic Crime Bill would also have tackled the dodgy role played by Scottish Limited Partnerships (SLPs), highlighted in yesterday’s Prime Minister’s Questions by Ian Blackford, who revealed that he raised the issue in 2017 when Johnson was foreign secretary and 113 SLPs have been used to move $20.8 billion out of Russian banks.

“It was corruption on an industrial scale. Why did the Prime Minister do nothing back then and why is he still doing nothing now?”

No answer. And when Keir Starmer pledged Labour support for a rapidly timetabled Economic Crimes Bill, Boris replied that the bill would be presented “in the next session”. Which means sometime never.

The reality is that Westminster wants to maintain free flow of dodgy cash to the City of London because that makes fat fees for Tory supporters. Even if that destabilises Britain and lets Russia rampage through Ukraine. Even if Russian “laundromats”, which guarantee tax avoidance, are also used by terrorists and drug dealers. Who cares? There’s just too much dirty money at stake.

According to Bullough, the British Government fears that a Russian oligarch crackdown might also deter corrupt officials from Nigeria, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and other places where small cliques run their countries – chief amongst them the Chinese, who were also the biggest users of the Golden Visa system. Yep, the level of Johnson duplicity over dirty money is that bad.

Despite announcing a “year of action” at a summit organised by Joe Biden three months ago, and promising to “go after criminals who abuse our corporate structures”, Johnson has just actually just given the green light to the oligarchs.

Don’t worry about the troops we’ve sent to Estonia or my sabre rattling in the House. Your money’s safe here, Vlad old boy. No questions asked. It’s as morally repugnant as it is utterly predictable.

Thankfully though, the BBC is giving plenty airtime to the excellent Bullough, whose calm demolition of British hypocrisy is all the more convincing for lacking party-political affiliation.

“Britain has had two foreign policies for some time. One is run by the Foreign Office which imposes sanctions, sends weapons and talks tough. But right next to it a separate Treasury and Business Department policy is doing exactly the opposite.

“It allows kleptocrat wealth in by under-resourcing systems designed to check on its origins – and that’s what Putin really cares about. His money has been protected and shielded by British professionals for decades through the wealth management offered to his close friends.”

So, a bright light is being shone on Johnson’s duplicity.

Starmer did actually nail it at PMQs, arguing that unless the Economic Crime Bill is fast-tracked through the Commons immediately: “Putin will believe we are too corrupt and too inert to end the era of oligarchic impunity in Britain.”

Sadly, we are. Or, at least, successive Westminster administrations from the 1950s onwards (including the Blair/Brown government) have been.

So, pity the Ukrainians – championed, patronised and hung out to dry by a shameless British Prime Minister. Pity this country – a safe haven for kleptocrat cash and organised crime. And let’s redouble our efforts to get Scotland away from the whole indelibly corrupt shebang.